Ex_Machina
Go! Lady robot gets real. Super real..
Smart, slick, A.I. thriller.
If films have taught us anything, it is that (when they finally get here) A.I. robots are not going to like us one little bit. We build them, make them smarter, then they turn on us with more than a hint of ingratitude, and usually a whole heap of murder. From 2001: A Space Odyssey to Terminator; Her to Prometheus; and particularly when Haley Joel Osment's face melted in Spielberg's subtly titled A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, it looks like we'll never get on with smart computers. Even now, while they are not yet that advanced, already Siri can be a total motherboard to deal with. Just imagine what it'll be like when Siri can pick you up and take you to the nearest Starbucks against your will. Terrifying.
To continue allowing us to test these 100% accurate A.I. theories, Ex_Machina has arrived. I went to see it in the hope that any creepy robot humanoids would be totally chilled out this time and everything would turn out pleasantly. However, the red lights and chilling music in the trailer suggested otherwise, and having an underscore in the title is somehow very ominous.
To continue allowing us to test these 100% accurate A.I. theories, Ex_Machina has arrived. I went to see it in the hope that any creepy robot humanoids would be totally chilled out this time and everything would turn out pleasantly. However, the red lights and chilling music in the trailer suggested otherwise, and having an underscore in the title is somehow very ominous.
Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) works as a programmer at a place called Bluebook - a fictional internet search engine company which bears no resemblance to Google whatsoever. He wins an employee lottery to spend a week with Nathan, the reclusive, wealthy young owner of Bluebook (not Google), played buxom-beardedly and shaven-headedly by Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis). It turns out that Nathan lives virtually alone, in a predominantly underground house in an unknown country; a country which he also appears to own most of. With so much money and time on his hands, he has decided to play God; attempting to craft true Artificial Intelligence in his extremely stylish laboratory. Caleb has been brought in to test the A.I. unit named AVA (Alicia Vikander, The Fifth Estate) and see how human she/it really seems.
Written by Alex Garland, famed author of The Beach, as well as screenplays for 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later and Sunshine - Ex_Machina is also his first throw of the dice at directing. Behind the camera, he treats us to a film that matches his story; a seductive and thrilling sci-fi tale that is close enough to reality to chill you from your brain to your bones. Compactly told with just three characters in just one house, the intensity and claustrophobia of the film is permanently palpable; with tauter tension than a tingly tambourine. Because of that, you will quickly forgive a couple of inconsistencies in the storyline; that is if you ever get past the sensation of your fingernails disintegrating against your teeth for long enough to notice. Needless to say, with two men and a robot pinned together in an underground lab with red lights; things get...complicated.
Written by Alex Garland, famed author of The Beach, as well as screenplays for 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later and Sunshine - Ex_Machina is also his first throw of the dice at directing. Behind the camera, he treats us to a film that matches his story; a seductive and thrilling sci-fi tale that is close enough to reality to chill you from your brain to your bones. Compactly told with just three characters in just one house, the intensity and claustrophobia of the film is permanently palpable; with tauter tension than a tingly tambourine. Because of that, you will quickly forgive a couple of inconsistencies in the storyline; that is if you ever get past the sensation of your fingernails disintegrating against your teeth for long enough to notice. Needless to say, with two men and a robot pinned together in an underground lab with red lights; things get...complicated.
Isaac, Gleeson and Vikander are all excellent; creating a triangular vortex of deception, manipulation and vulnerability that will suck you deep into your plush, red cinema chair for all of the film's 1 hour 50 minute running time. The special effects are beautifully crafted, maintaining everything at its unnervingly believable level. With this level of realism, Ex_Machina does nothing to suggest that human/A.I. relations will be any better than we have so far been led to believe, and you may also leave feeling rather more concerned about what search engine companies might be capable of. Nonetheless, for the duration of the film, the anti-robot propaganda is highly entertaining.
So go, and compound your fear that trumped-up smartphones with limbs will ultimately deliver our self-imposed downfall. Until that inevitable day arrives, don't get in a driverless car, don't buy shares in SkyNet; don't use the internet as much; but do enjoy every edgy second of Ex_Machina.
So go, and compound your fear that trumped-up smartphones with limbs will ultimately deliver our self-imposed downfall. Until that inevitable day arrives, don't get in a driverless car, don't buy shares in SkyNet; don't use the internet as much; but do enjoy every edgy second of Ex_Machina.
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